Record-high January inflation in Hungary: trend turn? – UPDATED

Consumer prices in Hungary grew by an annual 25.7 percent in January, up from 24.5 percent the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday. The increase was driven by higher household energy and food prices, KSH said.

Food prices were up an annual 44 percent in January, while household energy prices increased by 52.4 percent. Month on month, inflation was 2.3 percent.

Márton Nagy, Hungary’s economic development minister, said that the inflation in Hungary peaked, napi.hu wrote. He added its rate would be one digit again by the end of this year.

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UPDATE: Minister – Inflation to fall into single digits by year-end

Inflation is expected to start declining from next month and fall into the single digits by the end of the year, Nagy said on Friday. The government’s efforts to curb inflation will start coming to fruition, Nagy said on the government’s Facebook page. He said the high inflation rate was a consequence of the war in Ukraine and “Brussels’ ill-advised sanctions”, adding that the government was working with the central bank to push it down.

The government expects inflation to peak at its January level of over 25 percent, Nagy said. He said the January data released by the Central Statistical Office on Friday was still impacted by the lifting of the price cap on fuel at the end of last year. The leveling out of food prices, however, was encouraging, he added. The government’s economic policy measures will yield results and the global supply shock will ease, which will be followed by a decline in inflation in the coming months, the minister said. The faster inflation can be pushed down, the higher this year’s real wage growth can be, he said.

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Source: MTI